Plea for hygienic toilet facilities at Manama Central Market

TDT | Manama                                                                         

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter  

The workers at the Manama Central Market are pleading to authorities to offer proper toilet facilities to them to end their enduring misery.

Only ten toilets are now available for over 4,000 workers employed or associated with the market, which includes the fruits, vegetables and meat outlets, said sources.

“We need the authorities to build more toilets here. There are two other toilet facilities here, but they remain closed,” a labourer at the vegetable and fruits selling area of the Central Market told The Daily Tribune.

“There are four more toilets in the area, but they are controlled by some private parties, who keep the keys with them,” he said. He said altogether there are over 4,000 labourers employed or associated with the market, “which is a huge number”.

“Most of us rush to the toilet facilities at the nearby mosque. But they are only open during prayer times.” The labourer said a group of workers earlier raised this issue before the authorities when they inspected the market.

“However, no steps were taken in this regard. We are requesting the authorities to provide ten more facilities.” The situation is much worse at the meat market, the sources pointed out. “We have only three toilet facilities for the workers at the meat market.

There are hundreds of workers here, who depend on these facilities, which are not at all properly maintained. I urge the authorities to immediately do something about it,” a worker at the meat market said.

The Daily Tribune last week reported that the meat sellers heaved a sigh of relief after the defunct air-conditioning system was repaired. The Capital Municipality confirmed that it was carrying out an urgent maintenance for 66 air-conditioner units in the market.

The municipality officials also added that they are duty-bound to ensure a comfortable environment for visitors and sellers. The meat sellers in the market faced a huge ordeal as they had no other choice but to sweat it out, as the intense heat kept on turning away buyers who perched to better places nearby.

Traders at the fruits and vegetables selling area of the Manama Central Market earlier told The Daily Tribune that they were forced to rent storerooms outside the market to keep the vegetables and fruits safe out of fears of rodent attack.

“The market is closed everyday at 4 pm and opens at around 2 am in the morning the next day. And during these ten hours, I can say it is under the rule of rodents, hundreds of them digging holes into sacks of fruits and vegetables. I really wonder where these hundreds of them come from?” a vegetable trader at the market told The Daily Tribune.

“The authorities should immediately carry out an operation here to clear the market of rodent pests, which should be followed by regular checks by pest control contractors,” they said.